Dollies for lifting and moving vehicles are well known in the art. Commonly, wheel dollies are used in the industry across various settings including towing and vehicle recovery, and also in repair and mechanical shop venues. The dollies currently presented by the prior art are inconvenient for many reasons.
It is known in the art for lifting dollies to comprise two parallel arms that perform a pinching movement to effect the lifting of a vehicle wheel. Often, these arms are connected by means to effect the pinching. The prior art exemplifies such means as requiring inefficient modes of implementation. Known means include complicated mechanical structures to impart the pinching forces. These structures comprise the use of an excessive amount of mechanical parts, require frequent servicing, and are bulky and difficult to operate. Prior art devices also use greasy lubricants that leave not only themselves, but residual surfaces undesirable, dirty, and slippery.
Wheel dollies as taught in the prior art are often bulky, heavy, and difficult to transport and operate. It is well known in the art that four or more dollies are required to completely lift the wheels of a vehicle from the surface it rests upon. A shortcoming not expressed in the prior art is the ability for a towing professional to retrieve a vehicle parked in a parallel position and having vehicles positioned both to the front and rear.
In such a position, prior art dollies require the use of dollies in a ‘left’ and ‘right’ configuration to allow for placement of the dolly and subsequent actuation of the lifting mechanism. This required users to possess and transport multiple, permanent configurations of a dolly.
Another reoccurring experience is the position of a wheel such that the lifting mechanism cannot be accessed or easily actuated. Often the lifting mechanism is too complicated to easily and timely effect actuation. Other times the vehicle is positioned where the lifting mechanism cannot be positioned or accessed altogether. In all such situations, the dollies of the prior art require time consuming procedures. Frequently, the user finds themselves forced into maneuvering their bodies into undesirable positions while placing the dolly and operating the lifting mechanism. These circumstances lead to the frequent inability to properly and easily lift a wheel, and often lead to the misfortune of the jack and dolly assemblies being abandoned altogether.
Jack and dolly assemblies are also known to be used in vehicle manufacturing venues and in vehicle repair settings. In these and other circumstances, the ability to place all of the wheels of a vehicle onto a means allowing it to be moved about any direction in a single plane is desirable. The prior art provides various dolly assemblies allowing this type of vehicle movement and re-location. However, the dollies found in prior art lack the ability to allow a user in this setting to place and actuate the device with ease; complicated actuation mechanisms force users to struggle while attempting to lift the vehicle onto the assembly.
As such, there is a need in the art for a jack and dolly assembly having a simply mechanical structure that is lightweight and easy to use. There is a need for an assembly that is adaptable to the venue and environment presented, allowing for the user to timely adapt the apparatus to the given situation, while easily and efficiently actuating the lifting mechanism from any angle or position without being subject to uncomfortable and inoperable body positions.
These and other objects will be readily evident upon a study of the following specification and the accompanying drawing wherein: